Beast Taming Universe Survival Guide

Chapter 17 The Other Side of Yunqi City

At three o'clock in the afternoon, the afternoon sun made people feel weary.

An unremarkable little teahouse was located in a deserted alley. Jiang Yong arrived at the teahouse right on time, following the location provided by Xiao Fan. He found a "Closed" sign hanging on the door, but the door was ajar. So, he politely knocked twice and then pushed the door open and went inside.

In contrast to its unassuming exterior, the teahouse's interior was remarkably elegant. At this moment, it was completely empty, save for the owner, who was sleeping at the counter, and a middle-aged man sitting at a tea table by the window—Professor Xu, whom Jiang Yong was looking for. He appeared to be in his forties or fifties, with gray hair and a gaunt face. A thermos flask lay beside him, suggesting he had just finished class; he was the epitome of an intellectual, making it hard to believe he was involved in underground shady dealings.

Upon seeing Jiang Yong enter, Professor Xu raised his head but did not stand up voluntarily. He simply smiled at him and gestured for the person opposite him to sit down.

"Well, it seems they don't believe what I said before, otherwise they wouldn't have this much confidence."

Jiang Yong nodded slightly, glanced at the shopkeeper who was still sleeping at the door, and then released his aura to make the body of the Spirit Cocoon condense. After verifying his expert status, he sat down in the seat opposite Professor Xu.

—As long as Necromancer-type moves are not used, Spirit Cocoon looks similar to a regular Bug-type Pokémon, so it's not like it can't stand any light.

"What a peculiar Bug-type Pokémon! I have absolutely no recollection of it. Is it a variant of the Chrysalis?"

Professor Xu glanced at the spirit cocoon a few more times and asked casually, as if this were just a simple chat.

"We bred it ourselves."

Jiang Yong casually let the Spirit Cocoon spit out a few strands of silk, which he then slowly coiled in his hand, getting straight to the point: "Since you're happy to see me, I'll take that as a yes. I hope the black market will offer a good price for my information."

You naive fool, do you really think the black market is so easy to fool?

Professor Xu sneered inwardly—he had spent the entire afternoon investigating, and nothing particularly significant had happened in the Eastern Territory recently. This young man before him was most likely a presumptuous individual who, relying on his expert-level skills, was trying to get something for nothing, utterly ignorant of his place.

However, experts do carry some weight, so it's worth meeting them. If you can get some pointers and get them into your circle of acquaintances, then the trip will have been worthwhile.

As for the possibility that the other party's intelligence was actually faster and more accurate than his own, he hadn't even considered that.

After all, this is the Yunqi Black Market.

Created with the covert support of all the small city-states in the Confederation, and even the central government of the Carol Confederation, this super frontier black market was born to counter the monopoly and bullying of the large cities!

Generally, things that are shady and become famous can only be laundered or the perpetrators flee, but the "Yunqi Black Market" is different. It's simply a collective term for an entire ecosystem with an incredibly complex internal structure, including merchants, brokers, smugglers, middlemen, local gangs, and even some border troops. Each group has its own intelligence and profit chains, making it an inextricable tangle. And all these chains have a common starting point: the eastern territories controlled by the large city-states.

The resources produced there, passing through their hands, bypassed the checkpoints and taxes set up by the major city-states, ultimately converging in Cloud City at prices far lower than the official market and at a much faster pace. From there, they were resold on the black market to the inland heart of the Carol Federation. Both large and small cities were playing their cards and maneuvering in these processes, and the undercurrents and dangers involved were difficult to describe.

It's almost fair to say that Yunqi City is a black market masquerading as a city-state. Twenty out of ten people with any status are involved in this business.

Professor Xu is a senior professor at Nancheng University. He holds exit permits under the guise of "researching wild Pokémon." His position is not that of an ordinary black market merchant or broker, but rather a member of the management system that controls the portal. Although his rank is not high, the information he can access is far beyond what others can compare to.

Upon hearing Jiang Yong's words, Professor Xu smiled noncommittally and handed a cup of tea to Jiang Yong on the table: "What's your name?"

"Does that mean I'm still my spirit?"

"...You yourself."

"Jiang Yong".

Jiang Yong answered casually, took the teacup and took a sip, then suddenly said, "I know what you're thinking, but time is limited right now, and I don't recommend wasting it on testing each other."

Is this a move to seize the initiative?

Professor Xu's lips curled into a smile, intending to continue watching how this person would continue to deceive: "Go on."

"Someone in the Eastern Territory attempted to smuggle the cubs of elite races, but was caught red-handed by the people of Tiandu City. You should receive the same news through your own channels in about two or three days. You can wait and see if you don't believe me."

Professor Xu's smile froze instantly.

The reason is simple: two or three days is too short, too easy to verify, and simply not enough to make a lot of money.

If this message is from here, then something terrible has happened!

"...Where did this news come from?"

He couldn't help but take it a little more seriously, but he still tried to act nonchalant as he asked.

"I have my own channels."

Jiang Yong smiled mysteriously, continuing to toy with the silk in his hand: "Elite races have always been one of the most important assets of the entire Confederation. You have committed a grave offense this time, which could become an excuse for the major cities to take action against the black market. If that happens, the entire Cloud City will face the risk of war."

"..."

Professor Xu didn't say anything; he was getting a little unsettled.

Can it really be true? Which son of a bitch is so audacious?

And if you've already done it, why get caught red-handed? Are you trying to drag all your competitors into a fire pit?

Most importantly, given that such a huge incident occurred, why is he the only one who knows about it, while the entire black market remains completely unaware?

If he's lying to me, what can I do in two or three days? How far can I run away?

Seeing Professor Xu's changing expressions, Jiang Yong chuckled and added:

"You can choose not to believe it now and wait for your own channels to confirm. However, given your position in the chain, you'll only be in the second or even third batch of people to receive the message, and by then there will be too many things that won't be ready to be done."

—The smuggling of elite races was obviously a lie, but Jiang Yong really wasn't lying to Professor Xu.

If Tiandu City wants to stir up trouble and instigate war, it will naturally use existing social conflicts. The specific method is to fabricate a serious crime as a pretext to take the initiative to crack down on the black market. And the experience of dozens of dungeons has proven that Tiandu City can only use the label of "smuggling elite race", which is almost the biggest label they can put on it.

"...Hmph, I'll decide for myself whether it's true or false."

Professor Xu steadied himself, realizing that the initiative in this conversation had shifted to Jiang Yong. He then subtly gave the shopkeeper in the distance a wink, his tone immediately taking on a hint of pressure:

"But I didn't expect you to be so confident as to just tell me this information directly?"

They've started applying pressure, not bad.

"Do you think you can take advantage of me?" Jiang Yong sat up straighter and deliberately retorted.

"You think I can't?"

Professor Xu chuckled—he certainly didn't intend to offend an expert with whom he had a cooperative relationship. But even in cooperation, there are priorities, and this was his home turf; he felt it necessary to help this young man distinguish between the important and the less important roles. In his view, the best approach to cooperation was always a carrot and stick approach.

However, he forgot that someone whose intelligence gathering speed is faster than the entire black market couldn't possibly be simple. This was because he was distracted by the information, used to manipulating others, and eager to regain the initiative, causing him to temporarily lose his composure.

Since the other side has deliberately given him an opening, Jiang Yong has no intention of being polite.

"you……"

Jiang Yong was about to continue speaking when he felt a hand press down on his shoulder. Turning around, he saw the shopkeeper standing behind him with a sinister grin, emanating a faint aura of arrogance. Beside him stood a giant ape-like spirit, nearly two meters tall, who was also an expert-level being.

Seeing this, he was not flustered at all, but rather delighted – this was exactly what he had been waiting for.

"Be good, stop fooling around."

Jiang Yongchong smiled kindly at him: "Go play with the weakening yourself."

Weakening? What weakening...?

What the hell!

The shopkeeper was stunned for a moment, then his expression changed drastically. He took several steps back, staring at him in horror.